Within The Stars | ✔️

19

~Samara's POV~

The tension between Elias and I grew thick over the next few days, though his hatred for me was only palpable when he and I were left alone together. He had nobody left to hide it from then, after all.

It was about a week later on Thursday that I got together with Poppy, Sterlyn and Elias for lunch, as Poppy had evidently been a lot more sick than any of us had thought and had only just recently gotten better yesterday. Thankfully I didn't have to work today, so I began to get ready once I woke up, being sure to shave my body when I took a shower since I hadn't shaved in a few days now.

After I took a shower, I hopped out and wrapped myself in a towel to dry off, sauntering out of the bathroom once I was dried. I picked out a pair of undergarments and then slid them on, heading into my closet to find what I wanted to wear. I decided to keep it rather simple and just pulled on a short black dress with a tiny bit of flare at the bottom and thin spaghetti straps that went over my shoulders, as well as my usual Doc Martens. While I left my hair down to dry I did my usual makeup routine, brushing through my hair once I had finished and my hair was mostly dry. Lastly, I put on a little bit of deodorant and then grabbed a fuzzy leopard print bag that I threw all of my important things inside of before I left.

I ended up going to meet the three of them at a restaurant called The Village, which I had actually been to before and quite liked due to the fact that it was an Italian restaurant, and Italian food had always been one of my favorite types of food.

The three of them were already waiting when I arrived, sitting at a four seater table towards the back of the building. At first when I arrived I wasn't even sure if they were here, but I quickly realized that they were when I spotted Poppy's car in the parking lot. I headed into the restaurant and located the table they were at, the scent of Italian food making my stomach rumble hungrily. "Sammy!" Poppy exclaimed happily when I sat down at the table, giving me a grin. "You're here!"

"Hi." I greeted, scooting my chair in beneath the table. "I see you're finally feeling better." I stated with a smile. Poppy rarely ever got sick, so I had actually been surprised when she told me she was, and even more so that she'd been sick for a couple of days.

"I know, I think I got sick because my sister brought home something from school. Snotty little kids, you know." She huffed, referring to her younger sister, who was only about five now. I giggled softly and shook my head, looking through the menu despite the fact that I basically already knew what I was going to get, considering I always ordered the same thing from here. "You know if your mom heard you calling her that, she'd have a few choice words for you." I teased, to which she laughed. "Please, I'm a grown woman." She said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "That's never stopped her before." I responded, snickering softly.

She sent me a playful glare, a smile on her lips. "I heard you and Elias hung out, though, since neither Sterlyn nor I were able to make it on Friday." She mentioned suddenly, pushing her menu off to the side of the table so it wasn't in her way as much. I cocked up a brow. "Did you guys have fun?" She asked, and I wasn't so stupid that I didn't notice the hopeful tone within her voice.

My eyes flicked over to Elias as he sat just to my left, his denim jean clad legs slightly parted as he relaxed in his seat, the muscles beneath his white shirt flexing when he rested his elbow on the back of the chair and cocked a brow up at me. There was a slight hint of a smirk on his lips that made me want to glare at him, but I refrained. "Yeah." Eli chuckled, the smile on his face far too pretty for a man that irritated me as much as he did. "We had so much fun, didn't we, Samara?" He said, a teasing tone to his voice. I felt an embarrassed warmth fill my face as I stared at him, my fingers clutching at the bottom of my dress. "Absolutely." I forced myself to say, which I suppose was only a half lie, really. Until he and I had gotten in an argument, I thought we had been getting along rather well, but then it had been ruined. Of course, I couldn't let Poppy know this, though.

Poppy grinned, a happy sparkle in her eye that told me she was very pleased. "Yay!" She exclaimed, smiling widely. "Maybe I should get sick more often, if it means you two can learn to get along so well." She said. I blinked and awkwardly fiddled with my fingers, unsure what to say to that.

A waiter suddenly came over, interrupting the brief silence that had fallen over us to take everyone's orders. He left a moment after and I flicked my eyes over to Sterlyn as he sat beside Poppy, his gaze trained on Elias. "I'm going to use the restroom before the food gets here." Poppy noted to the three of us, standing up from her chair before she left in search of the girl's bathroom. That left just Sterlyn, Elias and I.

"You two are acting strange." Sterlyn pointed out, catching me a little bit off guard. I stared at him, hoping I didn't resemble a deer caught in headlights. "Huh?" I asked, slightly nervous. He nodded his head in Eli's direction. "Him, mostly, really." He said, my tongue nervously flicking out to play with my lip piercings as I glanced at Elias.

"I have no idea what you mean." Elias responded, sounding surprisingly convincing. Then again, the calmness that he was responding with could've been what made him seem strange. It was clear that Sterlyn wasn't buying it, though, since he just snorted and gave Elias a flat look. "Yeah, sure you don't." Ster responded. "Don't think I haven't noticed. You're weirdly friendly with one another all of a sudden." He pointed out, causing me to look up at Eli and frown slightly, unsure what kind of lie to make up.

"Weren't you trying to get me to be nicer to her, too? Why's it suddenly a problem now that I am?" Elias retorted, surprising me when he slung a long arm over the back of my chair. Ster cocked up a brow, the action not going un-noticed by him either. "You guys are both weird." He sighed, but his lips twitched up slightly as if he found it amusing.

It wasn't very long before Poppy returned from the bathroom and the waiter arrived with everyone's food and drinks, setting all of the plates on the table. My stomach rumbled when my food was placed in front of me, the delicious scent of chicken marsala with linguine reminding me of just how much I loved Italian food. I didn't get to have Italian food very often, which could've been part of the reason why I let out a soft noise of delight when I took a bite. Eli snorted beside me, as if trying to stifle his laughter. "Calm down over there." He muttered, causing my gaze to flick up to look at him. I took a brief glance around the table and was relieved that nobody else seemed to have heard me except for him.

"What?" I grumbled, admittedly a little bit defensive. "It tastes good." I said, taking another bite. He just smiled slightly, turning away just enough to hide it from me.